Singaporeans wishing Dr Lee Wei Ling good health on her 69th birthday

SINGAPORE: Entering 2024, Dr Lee Wei Ling, neurologist and the daughter of the late Lee Kuan Yew, welcomes her 69th birthday on 7 January.

In a Sunday Facebook post, Lee Hsien Yang, Dr Lee’s brother, extended warm wishes to his sister on her birthday, sharing a cherished childhood photo capturing moments between them.

Comments flooded Lee Hsien Yang’s post, reflecting the sentiments of numerous Singaporeans who expressed their well-wishes for Dr Lee’s good health and conveyed heartfelt birthday blessings.

Among the comments were suggestions for a family reunion, expressing hopes that the siblings and their families could gather and commemorate the occasion despite the past disagreements over the Oxley Road house.

Dr Lee revealed she diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy in 2020

In May 2020, Dr Lee revealed that she had been battling acute retention of urine (ARU) for over 13 years.

Later, in August of the same year, she disclosed being diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative disorder akin to Parkinson’s disease in symptoms.

Dr Lee has been recuperating at her residence at Oxley Road, where her father, LKY, used to live.

She has vocally opposed the hero worship associated with her father’s legacy, stressing in her writings that LKY avoided adulation, pursued a life beyond public acclaim, and expressed a desire for his family home’s demolition to prevent it from becoming a monument—aligning with a course seemingly favoured by the PAP government.

Accusing her brother, PM Lee, of potentially exploiting Lee Kuan Yew’s legacy for political gain, Dr Lee questioned the alignment of state narratives with personal histories.

“In this age where prestige and power attract unscrupulous individuals into politics, Papa’s wish should be honoured as an example of an outstanding Singaporean who rejected hero-worship,” Dr Lee wrote in a Facebook post back in 2016.

“Preserving the house sends a wrong message to Singapore’s politicians and aspiring politicians. It is paradoxical to claim we honour him yet disregard his solitary request to Singaporeans.”

Dr Lee even branded PM Lee ‘a dishonorable son’ in her comments, vowing not to permit her father’s name to be tarnished by his actions.

In an August 2020 Facebook post, Dr Lee explained her diagnosis of PSP, highlighting its grim progression, including difficulties swallowing, choking aspiration, pneumonia, and ultimately death for many.

“This is followed by difficulty swallowing, choking aspiration, pneumonia and death – for the fortunate,” she added.

There is also a likelihood of dementia “with prominent behavioural changes such as disinhibition and impulsivity” as the disease worsens, said Dr Lee.

Upon learning of her condition, Dr Lee said: “My immediate reaction to the news was “忍”(ren), or endure in Chinese, of which the traditional character has a knife above a heart. I have been practicing “忍” since I was in Chinese school, recognising that life has many unpleasant, unavoidable situations.”

“It would be nice if this entire episode turns out to be a nightmare and that I will wake up. But it is getting increasingly real and inescapable every day.

“My movements are slow and hesitant and I have difficulty getting up from my futon (yes, I upgraded from sleeping on two exercise mats, one on top of the other, to a comfortable futon on top of the exercise mats),” she lamented, adding that the futon was what her brother Lee Hsien Yang’s children would use when they had friends sleep over.

“It gives more cushioning than just exercise mats and the surface is made of woven bamboo strips, making it cool and easy to slide on,” she wrote.